


the best season

by Little Keplerette (classycloudcuckoolanderclasso)



Series: South Park Drabble Bomb April 2017: Springtime [5]
Category: South Park
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Gen, M/M, Original Character(s), South Park Drabble Bomb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-22 02:23:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10687818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/classycloudcuckoolanderclasso/pseuds/Little%20Keplerette
Summary: Kenny wasn’t exactly sure if he wanted to let his little girl go just yet.





	the best season

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Beginnings - I really want you to run wild with this one. Anything can be the beginning of something new, and Spring is a season all about new life and new things. Is it a new relationship that they’re feeling awkward about? Did their favorite show come back for another season finally? Did they start a new project, even though they have a million unfinished ones tucked away somewhere? Is your muse excited about or afraid of the changes that come with a new beginning?

 

Kenny McCormick confessed to Butters Stotch during a beautiful spring day, in the sixth grade, holding only the prettiest wildflowers he could find - and a few forget-me-nots, one of Butters’s favorite flowers. That day, Butters had thrown his arms around Kenny and kissed him senseless, and boy, had Kenny been on cloud nine for the next three days.

Many springs later, sometime after college, they moved in together and shared an apartment with Kyle and Stan - to cut costs more than actually stay together as a friend group, really, but it was a bonus. That spring, Butters had landed a job as a hotel’s chef, and Kenny had landed a job as a mechanic.

It was a memorable spring.

Spring, in Kenny’s opinion, was the best season of the year, and, for someone like him, who had most of the good things in his life happen in the springtime, it was no surprise that he thought very well of the season. Winters were fine too, he supposed, being accustomed to the cold, but spring would always be more superior to the man.

A spring or so later, when things had stabilized and he and Butters had already bought their own house (and so had Kyle and Stan, but that is a story for another day), Kenny proposed to Butters, and, just like before, Butters had kissed him senseless, baby blues brimming with tears of joy. He had screamed his assent many times before Kenny had taken him in his arms and spun him around on the lawn, his own eyes threatening to scatter his happy tears all over the grass, and together, the two blonds had collapsed on the ground, smiling giddily at each other.

They married the next spring, as was Kenny’s personal wish to keep spring the best season for both him and Butters.

A few years or so later, the Stotch-McCormick household was blessed with a young girl they had christened Bunny, and true to the tradition, she had been born at the peak of spring, where hay fevers were at its worst and flowers were blooming at their best. Her name had come from the little white rabbit footsies Nichole had knitted her as a gift, and while Stan would tease for years to come that Bunny had actually been a combination of Kenny and Butters’s names, it would still prove to be a very appropriate name for the bouncy girl.

Bunny was Kenny’s little sweetheart, precocious and gentle, just like Butters, and just as adorable as both of her parents. And, to the surprise of none, she had drifted close to her own group of friends as her parents had - which had comprised of one Kyan Marshlovski, one Creek Tweak-Tucker, and one Candy Cartman; truly, a collection of troublemakers.

(Privately, all the parents had convened at some point during their friendship and admitted to each other that they were downright terrified that they’d start their own brand of troubles not unlike the ones they had during their own childhoods. Ironically enough, Cartman in particular had been adamant on just getting a restraining order on all the other kids to keep his own daughter safe from them and them safe from her - but Candy had inherited both her mother’s smarts and her father’s cunning, so that was out of the question.)

Springs were also Bunny’s favorite season, Kenny learned a few years later, during Bunny’s fourteenth birthday, while she danced in her bare feet on the grass with an incredibly tall and awkward Gristoph DeLorne - the boy was literally two feet taller than Bunny, at his height of 6′3″ and Bunny’s 4′3″. She declared her love for it to everyone present, and Butters took pictures. Lots of pictures. 

She was a bright ray of sunshine. She was Kenny’s little sunshine - she brought a smile to her fathers’ faces with her sweet laughter and tender smiles.

So why was it that the sight of her smile only brought tears to his face now?

“Daddy...”

Kenny didn’t know what to feel. His whole body was numb, tears threatening to spill over and paint waterfalls of despair on his cheeks. He tried to feel, he really did, grasping his only daughter’s hand as tight as he could, trying to warm it up, but it was no use: Bunny was fading.

He didn’t like it.

“No, no, sweetie, just- just stay awake, okay?” Kenny was frantic, brushing away blonde locks from her forehead, kissing it fervently as though it would bring back what little color she had in her cheeks. In the background, Butters was wailing with panic in Charlotte’s arms as Kyle yelled into a phone, arguing with nurses on the other end of the line, while Stan was trying his best to patch up the wound in Bunny’s stomach with what he knew. Gristoph was screaming too, somewhere - Kenny could hear his anguished screaming over the clamors of the other children (Bunny’s other friends, he dimly recognized), but it was muffled, the only clear voices he could hear right now being his own, and Bunny’s.

The wound in Bunny’s stomach was a gunshot wound, three of them to be exact - fired by some newcomers to South Park looking to hunt wild animals despite the laws already in place. They had been aiming for a deer - as Cartman, chief of police, would soon find out - , but because of their horrible aim, had hit Bunny, sitting quietly among the forget-me-nots and daisies, making flower crowns for herself and Gristoph, straight through the stomach. She had gone down immediately, and Gristoph had screamed bloody murder.

Kenny cursed every single god in existence, ignoring the way his own daughter’s blood seeped through his pants and coated his hands as he whispered, “Bunny, Bunny, sweetie, c’mon, stay awake for Daddy, c’mon...”

“But I’m...” She yawned quietly. “Really sleepy...”

“No, no, baby, no, don’t sleep now, now’s a bad time to sleep,” He stifled a sob as Stan glanced desperately at Kyle, who continued to shriek at the people on the other line for them to hurry. There was only so much the guy could do - he was a nurse, not a doctor, and he wasn’t exactly able to get to the wound properly with Kenny holding his daughter’s body tight to his chest. “Bunny, c’mon, sweetie, keep your eyes open.”

Bunny smiled faintly, and it only served to make Kenny choke back another sob. “Daddy... don’t worry... I’ll try to keep my eyes open...”

“Don’t _try,_ sweetie, _do_ it.”

“Daddy...” Bunny glanced down weakly at Stan’s hands, trying to perform proper first aid, before looking back up at Kenny. “Am I going to hell?”

“Hell? Oh, baby, oh baby, no, nooo, you’re not going anywhere, you’re staying with me and - a-and Papa, okay,” Kenny reassured, pressing a kiss to her temple. “And you’re an angel, sweetie, no. Only Mormons go to Heaven, but maybe God will make an exception for you, they made an exception for Uncle Pip, didn’t they?”

Bunny laughed, but it was weak. “Daddy...”

“What is it, sweetie?”

“Do you...” Bunny weakly groped around with her right hand, until her frail fingers closed around something, which she pulled to her chest before holding it out to Kenny. “Do you like the flower crown...? I was... going to make one for you... and Papa... but I only made yours so far...”

The flower crown was made of daisies, with forget-me-nots tucked into the littler crevices, and quite frankly it was lopsided and a little too small for Kenny’s head (not to mention the fact that at least half of it was stained with Bunny’s splattered blood), but Kenny smiled anyway through his tears, putting it on his head. “Y-yeah, baby... Daddy loves it...”

“Really...” Bunny’s eyelids fluttered as she smiled a little. “I’m... glad... it was s’posed to be... an anniversary present... for you an’ Papa...”

“Shh, you need to rest now, baby, but don’t close your eyes, okay, don’t close your eyes. Save your strength.”

“...”

“Bunny?”

Everyone in the area silenced, watching as Kenny and Stan both froze, the latter sitting back, his first aid kit now rendered useless. Kenny brushed his fingers against Bunny’s cheek, but she did not move, her face frozen in a serene smile, pretty baby blues hidden behind eyelids that would open no longer.

“Bunny?” _No. No no no no no._ “Bunny, this isn’t- this isn’t funny, baby, c’mon- w-wake up-”

But she did not awaken.

When the reality of the situation sank in, Butters, unable to do anything else, screamed in despair, burying his face into his palms as Charlotte tried to comfort him the best she could, but she couldn’t - nothing could ever heal the loss of a parent’s child, especially at a young age.

Kyle threw his phone down on the grass in anger, frustrated at the hospital, at the phone, and at himself, sinking to his knees as he watched Butters sob and Kenny hold his only daughter’s tiny, lifeless body in his arms. Kenny was 6′4″ and Butters 5′5″, but Bunny, at 17, was only 5′0.

She looked so small and fragile in her father’s arms.

A raindrop hit Charlotte’s nose, and she looked up. The rain then began to pour, drenching everyone in spring’s first rainstorm. But nobody dared move.

It was a very dark spring day.

* * *

If you had asked Kenny McCormick when he had planned on letting go of his little girl, he would have jokingly answered ‘never’, only to amend it and say ‘maybe at 29, or 30, when she gets married, maybe’. His answer would have changed ages, depending on his mood and the person who was asking, but the feeling behind his words would always be the same: joking.

He hadn’t expected, however, that he’d have to let go of her at the age of 17.

It was a simple, quiet funeral, but many had flocked to it - her friends, their families, her parents’ friends, their families, hell, even the storekeepers of the stores she frequented paid their respects to the bright ray of sunshine that had been Bunny Stotch McCormick. She was just that beloved, and so to see her go so soon had been a blow to the town morale.

Butters had thrown himself over her casket, sobbing, begging to all the gods to give them back his little girl, but no amount of tears or despair could bring her back - Kenny knew. She wasn’t like him - she wasn’t cursed with his immortality.

_Damn it... DAMN IT!_

Bunny was supposed to make it to her old years, at the very least. She was supposed to grow up, and Kenny was supposed to see her go to college, get her first job, see her get married if she wanted to, not- not see her, small and helpless, in a pretty white casket surrounded by calla lilies and forget-me-nots.

Forget-me-nots.

Kenny’s hand brushed against the dried flower crown in his pocket - a bloodied memento of that fateful day he held his dying daughter in his arms. Its partner, an unfinished crown, had been among the flowers when Kenny had checked, and when he had presented it to Butters, he had broken down into sobs once again, clutching it close to his chest like it was Bunny herself, or at least a piece of her.

Kenny looked around the area. The flowers bloomed in the bright sunlight, and the birds tweeted pretty little melodies - the perfect picture of spring.

Fitting, that the spring that gave Kenny many of his best memories, would give him one of his worst.

* * *

“Kenny.”

“Mmngghh...”

“KENNY!”

“WAAAAGH!” Kenny shot up, panting, knocking heads with one Pip Pirrup, who fluttered backward, the only thing keeping him upright being the large white wings - well, mostly white, there were a few black feathers here and there - on his back. “Ow, Pip! What the fuck?”

“You wouldn’t wake up!” The Brit protested right back before steadying himself and holding out a hand to him, which he took, standing himself up.

Kenny looked around. “Wait, I’m in Heaven?” Beat. “Wait, _you’re_ in Heaven?”

“Kyle knows being his fellow professor is only a part-time job for me,” Pip shrugged, his wings shaking themselves off. “Heaven is a full time job, Kenny, and besides, Damien doesn’t mind.”

“He’s the Antichrist, why doesn’t he mind.”

“Dipper,” was Pip’s only answer, as though his son was the answer to everything.

“Anyway, Pip, why am I in Heaven?” Kenny looked around at the white expanse, and recognized the clouds of the kingdom of Heaven. The gates were a little farther off, but he knew this place from the few times he made it. “How did I die this time? I can’t remember.”

Pip curled his lip. “Dipper.”

“You can’t just use your son as an answer to everything,” Kenny told him.

“Unfortunately, Dipper _is_ the answer here. He shattered a teapot on your head.”

Beat.

Kenny gave Pip a look of bafflement. “What the fuck?”

“It was neither mine nor Damien’s idea, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Pip immediately defended before his gaze softened. Kenny wasn’t sure if he looked sorry for Kenny or if he looked hesitant. “Dipper had... done it as a favor.”

“A favor to who?”

Pip looked behind Kenny, and Kenny turned around. What he saw made him sink to his knees.

“Hi Daddy,” Bunny - not his seventeen year old Bunny, but a much younger Bunny, possibly around ten years old - smiled sweetly at her father, hands behind her back. She wore a pretty butter yellow sundress not unlike her favorite as a child, and her hair - once plaited in the style of Princess Kenny in her teen years - was now loosely tied in her childhood pigtails similar to that of Butters’s Marjorine hair.

She was the picture of innocence.

Kenny almost forgot that she was dead, but then her wings - just as majestic, though smaller than Pip’s - unfurled from behind her, scattering white feathers all around them as Pip stood to the side, bearing witness to the reunion between father and daughter. These feathers reminded him that no, Bunny _was_ dead - she’d been dead for a year or so now.

“Bunny,” Kenny croaked out, before stumbling through the clouds and running to embrace his daughter. He didn’t care that she was younger - she probably chose to look younger now that she’d been in Heaven for a year - but it did make the pain of her death much worse, making him imagine what could have happened if she had died at a much, much younger age.

His arms wrapped around her tightly, and Bunny hugged him back, as he whispered into her hair desperately, “Oh my God, Bunny, oh my God, oh my God...”

“Don’t be mad at Dipper, Daddy,” Bunny smiled into his sleeve, nuzzling him. “You told me you couldn’t die forever until you and Papa were old... so I asked Dipper a favor.”

“Oh, sweetie,” Kenny looked up at Pip, and the blond mouthed, ‘Dipper’s still going to get it from me’ with a dark look on his face, making him snort in laughter before he turned back to his daughter. “Okay, I won’t get mad. It was for you. But he really could have picked a better way for me to die.”

Bunny giggled. “Dipper didn’t know how else to kill you that was unconventional. And besides, he didn’t know how else to get you, um, up here.”

“I was supposed to be in Hell, wasn’t I, baby?” Kenny tapped her nose, and she sneezed. He laughed. “Oh man, I missed that.”

“Very funny,” Bunny pouted before her gaze softened at him. She took a seat on the clouds, and he sat across from her, as she gathered away a few clouds and moved them aside, revealing a small window to the world below. Kenny peered through the hole in the clouds, and was startled to see Butters, wiping away tears as he placed flowers on both Bunny’s and Kenny’s graves, before he walked back to his car and drove away.

“Leo?” Kenny whispered.

“You know he won’t remember you dying,” Bunny mumbled, sighing. “But he tries, and he kind of vaguely remembers, I think. That’s what Uncle Pip told me. You’ll be back in a few minutes, I think.”

“A few minutes?!” Kenny was startled. “No, no, come on, no- I don’t get to go to Heaven every day, this isn’t fair-”

Pip tapped his wristwatch, and Bunny took her father’s hands in hers. “Daddy. Listen to me. It’s time to... move on.”

“Move on? From what?”

“From me,” There was a look on Bunny’s face that looked so out of place on her ten year old self that it made Kenny stare. “Daddy. Don’t pretend you haven’t been tearing yourself apart for a year now. Even Papa’s learned to accept it in a year.”

“It’s been a _year,_ Bunny, I can’t just-” Kenny turned the tides and gripped her tiny hands instead carefully. “I can still see your face... everything... that day was the worst day of my life, Bunny, I can’t-”

Bunny lifted their hands up and kissed her father’s knuckles gently. “It’s spring. The season for new beginnings. Daddy, it’s time to start anew, and to do that, you have to accept that I'm not alive anymore. That's the first step to a new start."

"It's..." Ironic, really, that the man who could never die was unable to accept his own daughter's death. "I can't. Bunny, it's-"

"Daddy... by not accepting it... you're neglecting everything else around you," Bunny whispered sadly as she reached out to touch her father's now rather thick beard. "Look, you've really let yourself go. When was the last time you shaved, Daddy?"

Kenny blinked, and reached up and under her tiny hand, and upon coming into contact with the fuzz, gaped, staring at Bunny, then at Pip, who only shrugged, holding up his hands, saying, "Don't look at me. You're the one neglecting yourself."

"I..." Kenny looked helplessly back at Bunny.

The girl, to her credit, only leaned forward to wrap her father in a hug the best she could. "See? It's time to start anew by taking care of yourself. You... neglected yourself, choosing to never forget that day. You need to shave. And say hi to everyone else. Dipper's already said hi for me to all of my friends, but you need to say hi to all of your friends too. I'm sure they miss you."

"Pip?" The man looked at the older angel.

Pip tipped his hat. "I can't speak for them, old chap, but... I certainly do miss your cheery banter. You never were the same after little Bunny died. Even Eric and Wendy have admitted to missing your rather vulgar jokes, and you know how much the two hate them."

"..." Kenny faced his daughter again. "Was I really... that bad?"

"Very much, Daddy," She looked up at him solemnly. "And while I appreciate it, I'd appreciate it more if you took care of yourself and learned to accept it. I'm not like you Daddy, I can't come back. And no," She told him sternly. "It's not your fault I died. You and Gris can't both be responsible for my death, it was  _not_ your faults!" With a sigh, she leaned back into her father's embrace. "Don't let this one bad spring memory ruin all your other good spring memories. Don't you remember? You told me spring was your favorite, Daddy, just like me, because of all the good memories."

_"Remember, Daddy?"_

* * *

 

_Sixth grade spring. Butters, taking the haphazard bouquet of wildflowers before kissing Kenny senseless._

_Two springs after college. Butters, landing a job as a chef, and Kenny as a mechanic._

_Two springs later. Butters accepting Kenny's proposal._

_The next spring. Their marriage._

_Many springs later. Bunny's arrival._

_Spring after spring after spring. Bunny's various birthdays and their various wedding anniversaries._

_The seventeenth spring of Bunny's life. Bunny's death._

* * *

"Daddy? You're crying."

Kenny blinked, and only then noticed the tears that were finally spilling out of his eyes and onto Bunny's hair. With a sniff, wiping them away with the back of his hand, Kenny grinned a watery smile. "S-sorry, baby... guess Daddy's just... finally realizing how stupid he was... for not seeing the happy stuff..."

"It's okay," Bunny smiled back. "You were sad, and that's okay. I know I would have been sad too if it were you or Papa. But it's spring again. It's time to be happy now, okay?" She tapped her nose, and sneezed of her own accord, making Kenny laugh despite his tears. "Time to start anew. It's time to heal."

"Time to go," Pip reminded them.

Kenny embraced her one last time. "I'm going to miss you, sweetheart."

"I'm gonna miss you too, Daddy," Bunny whispered, her voice finally cracking as she let her own tears finally fall. She hugged her father tightly. "Say hi to Papa for me, okay?"

"I will."

Pip stepped forward, holding out a hand to Kenny, and with a final parting kiss on her forehead, Kenny stood up. He took Pip's hand, and in moments, they were gone.

* * *

Kenny woke up in his own bed, alone.

Sitting up, he looked around for his husband, and when he found no trace of him in the bedroom, slipped out from under the covers and into his slippers, climbing down the stairs into the kitchen to find him humming to himself quietly, making breakfast. With a tender smile, Kenny walked up to him and wrapped his arms around the smaller male, startling Butters into flipping the pancake a little too early.

"O-oh, Ken, it's just you," Butters breathed a sigh of relief. "Good mornin'."

"Good morning, Leo," Kenny replied, resting his chin on Butters's head for a moment before he drew back, grumbling to himself, "Yikes. I really need a shave."

"That's what I was tellin' you before, you silly!" Butters batted him away. "You only listen t'me now?"

Kenny smiled ruefully, shaking his head. "No, sorry, I- I wasn't myself. When you told me. Probably."

"I know," Butters smiled sadly, and with a flip, the pancake sailed in an arc above their heads and into the plate on the table behind them. Butters turned off the stove and put the pan in the sink before turning to face his husband. "Ken-"

"I know, what you're about to say, I think," Kenny began. "And I'm sorry, for not being there for you, the whole year after- after Bunny died."

"It's okay-"

"No, Leo, it's not, it's not ever going to be an okay thing that I did," Kenny told him seriously, taking Butters's soft hands into his own calloused ones, rough from all the dirty repair work he did. "I left you to grieve on your own while I did fuck shit, just- not getting over Bunny, just reliving her death. We were both grieving but I was supposed to be there for you... and I wasn't, because I was so fucking not over myself and my own fucking insecurities that I could've prevented her death," He clutched Butters's hands tighter, shaking. "God, I was- I was pathetic."

"No!" Butters exclaimed, rushing forward to sit his husband down on the nearest chair. "Ken, noooo, no no no. You were- you were dealin' with it your own way. I know that. An' it wasn't your fault she died."

"That's what she told me, too," Kenny whispered.

"What?"

"Leo... remember when I told you that I can never die?" Kenny sat Butters down on the seat across from him, still holding his hands. "Remember when Dipper Thorn bashed a teapot on my head and I died?"

Butters furrowed his brow. "You died? I 'member him bashin' the pot on your head - Pip already told 'im off for it - , but you were only hospitalized?"

"Okay, so you kinda remember. She was right. Okay, so... Dipper didn't do it because he hated me, he was- he was doing a favor."

"A favor?"

"Suspend disbelief, Leo- I saw Bunny."

Butters blinked, and then shook his head sadly. "Aw gee... an' I thought you were doin' so well, too... Ken, Bunny's dead."

"I know, Leo. She was- our baby girl was an angel," Kenny smiled, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. "She was so beautiful, Leo. You know Pip's an angel, right? He- he and Damien, they both pulled so many strings just for our little Bunny to be able to talk to me for a few minutes."

Butters thought about it for a minute, and, at hearing of Pip's involvement in the whole thing, curled his lip. "You... y'aren't lyin'... are ya?"

"I'd never lie to you, Leo," Kenny promised. "I saw Bunny in Heaven, and she talked to me."

"W-what'd she say?"

"Lots of things, but..." The man closed his eyes for a moment, and tried his hardest to recall the image of Bunny, with her smile and her laughing face, bathed in heavenly light, and surrounded by the clouds. The image strengthened his resolve, and, breathing in, he told Butters, "What was important was that she helped me remember something very important."

"A-and that was...?"

"I had my time to heal. And it's spring," They both looked outside the window. Daisies, forget-me-nots, and a new flower - daffodils - grew from the garden, bathed in the gentle glow of the morning sunlight. Kenny smiled, and faced his husband again. "Spring, the season of new beginnings. Our favorite season."

"So you've said lots'a times," Butters smiled back.

"I can't forget the bad memory, but I can't let the bad memory erase all our good memories together," Kenny bowed his head, closing his eyes, simply feeling Butters's soft hands, remembering the feel of Bunny's. "She told me that spring is the season for starting anew. And so..." He looked back up at Butters tentatively. "Do you... think we can do that? Start anew this spring?"

Butters was quiet for a bit, analyzing Kenny's face. In a few minutes, however, he smiled a watery smile. "Y'really are back, Ken... yeah, I-I'd really, really like that."

With a tearful grin, Kenny swooped forward, startling Butters as the taller male scooped him up in a hug, moving into the open space in the kitchen to spin him around happily, Butters giggling madly as Kenny peppered him with kisses, the shorter blond whining amidst his laughing, "Keeeeen, shave already! Y're ticklin' me with your beaaard!"

From her place in the heavens, Bunny smiled down at them.

_Time to heal._

 


End file.
